According to data compiled by Nielsen for the third quarter of 2008, more than 100 million US consumers – 42% of mobile subscribers – have video-capable cell phones. An estimated 10.3 million of those mobile consumers are watching TV/video on their cell phones. These findings indicate that mobile video viewing has increased 14% as compared with Q2 2008.
On average, viewers are spending an average 17 sessions per month viewing video, spending roughly 15 minutes per session. Apple’s iPhone emerged as the top device among mobile video viewers, with 9% of …

Nielsen’s final look at ad buys by the 2008 Presidential candidates proved one famous mantra: politics really are local.
President-elect Barack Obama placed one-and-a-half times as many spot TV ads than John McCain during the general election season (6/08 to 11/08), and almost twice as many ads dating back to the beginning of January when the primaries were just heating up.

SPOT TV ADS: June-Nov 2008

Barack Obama
419,667

John McCain
269,992

The local numbers show a much bigger discrepancy than those for national cable and network buys. Sen. McCain kept pace w/ President-elect Obama in those …

According to Nielsen Online, there were an estimated 7.75 billion web queries conducted for the month of October, 2008. Google search accounted for more than 60% of all searches with an estimated 4.8 billion queries. Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and Ask.com rounded out the top five.

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
% of Searches

#
All Searches
7,775,913
100.00%

1
Google Search
4,755,493
61.2%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,311,504
16.9%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
885,567
11.4%

4
AOL Search
334,467
4.3%

5
Ask.com Search
177,131
2.3%

6
My Web Search
60,336
0.8%

7
Comcast Search
40,246
0.5%

8
AT&T Worldnet Search
25,474
0.3%

9
NexTag Search
16,599
0.2%

10
Dogpile.com Search
14,485
0.2%

Source: Nielsen Online, MegaView Search -October 2008

View September 2008 search results.

Black Friday, the Friday following Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year. Many retailers use this time to offer “door-buster” deals – ridiculously low prices on key items that entice eager shoppers to line up outside hours before the store opens. Nielsen has prepared a Top 10 list of common mistakes made by retailers who are trying to play and win in the competitive world of Black Friday.
Mistake #1: Sticking to traditional categories
Who says supermarkets can’t sell video games or that electronics stores can’t sell …

TV, Internet, and mobile usage continues to grow in the U.S., according to a report released today by Nielsen.
As of Q3 2008, the average American watched approximately 142 hours of TV per month — five hours more than they watched in a typical month during the same period a year ago.
Americans who used the Internet were online 27 hours a month, and people who used a mobile phone spent 3 hours a month watching mobile video.
Men were more likely than women to watch via mobile phone, while women were more likely then …

The in-Cinema advertising market (ads before trailers, posters, etc.) has grown at a rate of 17% each year over the last three years. To answer many of the questions emerging on this topic, Nielsen PreView conducted a webinar “Cinema Advertising Demystified: Where It Is And Where It Might Go.” The webinar which features an analysis of the movie-going audience and how to improve the effectiveness of in-cinema advertising, is now available as a free download at Nielsen PreView. Additionally, another recent webinar The Advertiser Handbook: Top Ten Advertiser Insights is …

Given the immense popularity of texting in the U.S. and abroad, it’s not surprising that marketers have been ramping up their use of the medium to engage their customers. According to Nielsen, 16% of texters in the U.S. see some form of text-message advertising each month. Not surprisingly, teens are the most likely to engage with short-code marketing—35% see some form of text-message advertising in the course of a month. African-American and Hispanic mobile subscribers are also more likely than the average texter to engage with some form of text-message …

Compared to the rest of the globe, Latin America’s consumers place the highest importance on how environment standards and labor conditions impact products they purchase. In North America, consumers come in just below the global average when considering the importance of those factors according to a Nielsen report on Corporate Ethics And Fair Trading, done in partnership with Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute. In addition to Latin and North America, the report details consumer perceptions in the Asia/Pacific region, Europe, and emerging markets. “A global social conscience is one of …

Often overlooked by marketers in comparison to the tremendous growth of the Hispanic population, Asians comprise a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population that is not only culturally diverse, but also well-educated, affluent, and media savvy. Asians are expected to continue to grow rapidly as a share of U.S. population. Although they will likely continue to be ranked the third race or ethnic group by size (behind Hispanics and African Americans), they will make up a significant share of population over the next few decades. The fusion of Asian …

By Emily Heitkamp, Nielsen Online
When details of the global financial crisis overtook the headlines in mid-September, consumers and brands began assessing their position in the economy and strategizing for the downturn. Retailers have reacted by announcing plans to offer deep discounts for the holidays, from high-end to mass-merchandise. Some have rolled out deals in advance of Black Friday. With reports of more and better deals from retailers and a bleak economic outlook for consumers, it would be natural to assume that consumers are hungry to take advantage of opportunities to …